Is it OK to covet the salvation of souls?

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If one has an urgent and earnest covetousness for the salvation of souls is that a sin? Does coveting the salvation of souls constitute a sin under rhe 9th commandment?
 
I think it’s okay to feel such love for others so as to desire their salvation, if that’s what you mean. However, the sentiment risks crossing into self-righteousness if one thinks himself holier than everyone else and feels a need to correct everyone else. If one perceives oneself as being especially holy and pure while seeing everyone else as especially sinful, then one is commiting the sin of pride and lack of humility. We are all sinners.

That said, no, it’s not a sin to desire to convert people and save their souls, but care must be exercised not to become self-righteous.

God bless.
 
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Covet :. yearn to possess or have (something).

You cannot possess the salvation of others. You need to apply meaning to words.
 
Jesus eagerly desires the salvation of souls, and He is certainly sinless. Now, we can not act as God, but to want others to be saved is a wonderful thing, especially when accompanied by action to help the desire become truth, provided God approves of what you are doing
 
Right, to covet is a sin, but to covet in this sense is to want it for yourself. The OP did not want those souls for themselves, but for those souls to get to experience salvation and joy in knowing the fullness of God. I think the OP should not have used the word “covet” which means to want for oneself. This circumstance can be more described as “desire,” “enthusiasm,” “zeal,” or “passion” for others to experience Jesus’s love and saving grace. I can not see how this is a sin.
 
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The word “covet” literally means “to yearn to posses or have” which is implying that one wants it for themselves. The OP wants Jesus to have the souls and the glory, and wants the souls to have Jesus and salvation through him. So the OP wants nothing for themselves in the situation, only to bring glory to God through their prayers/actions that lead others to Christ.
 
db90 said:
If one has an urgent and earnest covetousness for the salvation of souls is that a sin? Does coveting the salvation of souls constitute a sin under rhe 9th commandment?
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I think you misunderstand what “to covet” means. One may “covet” the possessions of another, meaning he wants to have them and would take them from the other if he could. That would be a sin.
Merely to desire to have possessions of one’s own is not the same thing.

I see no way in which “to covet” could apply to the idea of the salvation of souls. You desire that souls be saved. In no way is that covetousness.
 
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